


Saltcakes

by Cynder2013



Series: Children of the Sea [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Innsmouth Legacy - Ruthanna Emrys, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Food, Gen, Homesickness, Stress Baking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24480094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynder2013/pseuds/Cynder2013
Summary: Paul stress bakes. Percy and Annabeth approve.
Series: Children of the Sea [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768231
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Saltcakes

The day before Sally and Estelle come home from the hospital, Paul spends two hours making batch after batch of honeyed saltcakes. In the middle of the third batch he decides to add food colouring and for the first time ever his baking comes out a brilliant cobalt blue. By the time Percy and Annabeth get home, the kitchen table is covered with racks of slowly cooling saltcakes.

“Uh, hi Paul,” Percy says. His eyes trace over the rows of pastry. “You’ve been busy, huh?”

Paul takes another tray of saltcakes out of the oven. He quickly brushes them with honey and sprinkles sea salt over top. “A little bit, yes. It’s a family recipe. Try one.”

Percy picks up one of the blue honeyed saltcakes. He studies it for a second before taking a bite. His eyes widen. “Annabeth, you have to try this.”

Annabeth plucks the cake from Percy’s hand and takes a bite, ignoring his protests. Her eyes widen. “Oh my gods, Paul, this is amazing.”

That’s good to hear. He had left out some of the salt, almost half of what the recipe calls for, because he wasn’t sure if anyone outside of Innsmouth would be able to stomach that much salt and he wouldn’t be able to eat six dozen saltcakes on his own. It doesn’t look like that will be a problem. Percy is already halfway through the cake he picked up to replace the one Annabeth stole. 

Paul smiles. “I’m glad you like it.” He starts putting away the flour, honey and salt that’s left after making six batches of saltcakes.

Percy takes another saltcake. “Why haven’t you made these before?”

“It’s an Innsmouth recipe,” Paul says carefully. He looks at Annabeth, who’s nibbling on her stolen confection. Over her shoulder, the statue of Cthulhu on his shrine seems to be staring at them through its closed eyelids.

Annabeth’s eyes light up. “It is? Can I have some to take to camp? Malcolm says one of our brothers has been homesick. He’s from Innsmouth.”

Paul nods. They fill a Tupperware container with cooled saltcakes and Percy calls Blackjack to help Annabeth smuggle them into Camp Half-Blood. Later that afternoon, when Paul is doing another check of Estelle’s nursery to make absolutely sure they have everything they need, he gets an Iris Message from a boy with bulging grey eyes and wispy blond hair. His name is Colin Marsh; he’s one of Paul’s distant cousins. He’s crying as he thanks Paul for the honeyed saltcakes. Paul tells Colin he’ll send him more whenever he makes them, and then promises himself that he’ll make more as soon as possible. It’s been too long since either of them last had a taste of home.

**Author's Note:**

> There is an actual recipe for honeyed saltcakes. I haven't tried it yet, but you can find it by searching "honeyed saltcakes Innsmouth" or use [ this link.](https://franwilde.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/book-bites-more-innsmouth-collection-recipes-from-ruthanna-emrys/)  
> Update on the honeyed saltcakes: I have made them (the version with less salt) and they are good. They've got the texture of a cake and they're not too sweet. I did make a few mistakes. One, sugar is a wet ingredient. If you follow the recipe out of order like I did, remember that the sugar goes with the butter, not the flour. Two, honey is acidic. Not really a mistake, but don't freak out if you start mixing the butter, honey and sugar and it looks like it's curdled. You'll still get something edible. Three, don't put sea salt on top of the cakes. I was working with what I had and sea salt makes it a little too salty, in my opinion. If you like them with sea salt, don't let me stop you.  
> That's all, folks.


End file.
